TAF Restored Masters

[nafroe]

Not sure if MySpleen will allow me to up Casino Royale, but I'll check. In the meantime, released a custom version of On Her Majesty's Secret Service! It's the BD transfer color-corrected with LD mono and fixed opening/closing credits. More information in the respective thread.

Also up is an HD remaster of the excellent old Never Say McClory Again fan edit.

Beautiful! Thank you!!

[The Aluminum Falcon]

The Exorcist: Theatrical Cut Reconstruction is now up! Restores the original logo (thanks Jonno), climactic jump cut, removes the completely blue color timing of the Exorcism scenes, and has two audio mixes- 1979 70mm 5.1 remix (thanks Doombot for encoding) and 1973 original theatrical mix (thanks Anctufaalb).

There's finally a thread, under "Released" in "Complete Projects."

[spoRv]

It seems you are the most prolific project maker here... congratulations!

But do find some time to sleep...

[The Aluminum Falcon]

Last project(s) for awhile guys... two versions of Reservoir Dogs are available now, one an approximation of Quentin Tarantino's personal 35mm print and the other an approximation of how it looked in its Cannes premiere (thanks to Stamper for crucial info).

They don't have the exact same look, varying pretty widely in terms of color, but both share a far richer contrast and neo-noir vibe than the BD.

Hope you enjoy!

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Potential releases in the far future, however, include The Devil Rides Out, Help!, and An American Werewolf in London... Maybe even another Bond film.

Will start threads when there's motion on any of them.

[Vouka]

will you do Super35 (1.37:1) version?

[The Aluminum Falcon]

Welp, three years and one global pandemic later, it looks like TAF Restored Masters might return after all.

First of all, using the available HD master of Orson Welles's CONFIDENTIAL REPORT (1954), I've reconstructed both the Corinth cut and the infamous, mutilated US cut. Unique sections are patched in with the Criterion DVD. So, should have that uploaded for all you Orson Welles fans sometime in the next week.

And then, totally out of left field, I've also done a rough reconstruction of the U.S. cut of POSSESSION (1981) based on a VHS on MySpleen. This version, with a different score, is very weird. The VHS is transferred from a pretty rough film element and is pretty unwatchable, so hopefully this reconstruction will help people appreciate the utter insanity of all the changes.

So, all that said, I'm looking to reconstruct the U.S./Selznick cut of THE THIRD MAN (1949). Does anyone have a copy they could transfer as a reference or even literally show me an iPhone recording of those changes, so I can reconstruct with the restored StudioCanal BD? No longer have a VHS player myself.

I'll update the main post and start a thread for The Third Man soon, but stay tuned!

[PDB]

Glad to have you back at work TAF, regardless of the circumstances.

Looking forward to the Welles’ movies. Third Man is in my top ten. I can’t recall for sure but wasn’t it said the Criterion was a better master than the SC? I could be wrong.

Never seen Possession but it’s always been on the watch list given the cast and its notoriety.

Good luck!

[The Aluminum Falcon]

Thanks PDB!

The Studio Canal BD does have some compression issues but I think the new 4K scan and better contrast outweigh things. Detail wise, they're about the same, though. But, perhaps more importantly, Moshrom synced the really good audio from the 1st Criterion DVD to the Studio Canal, so that's definitely my preference.

In any case, looks like there's plenty of Third Man VHSes on eBay, so if someone's willing to do the transfer or at least send me notes. I'm happy to do the work.

Definitely watch the normal version of Possession first lol! The US version is totally rescored, and whole sections of the story are restructured.

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By the way, I was starting to look at SPARTACUS (1960) and conform the excellent new BD to the pre-restoration LD posted on MySpleen, but, to be honest, there weren't nearly that many differences. I only got past the Olivier/Curtis oysters and snails scene, mostly just seeing a few censorship cuts. Was able to get the alternate footage in widescreen from a terribly faded Russian telecine.

Could continue with that if there's interest but not sure if anyone wants to see.

[spoRv]

Yep, happy to see you back to work, TAF!